Grateful

In my opinion, being grateful is one of life’s most valuable lessons. All too often, we take things for granted and assume that the government, our employer or parents will take care of everything for us. Of course, that is often the case. So, when things don’t go quite to plan, we soon realise that - more often than not - we are extremely well looked after.

Gratitude is another Difrax theme. The ‘Thank You card’ is a weekly item on the management agenda. Who deserves a little extra recognition? Who has done something extraordinary this week, something that went beyond the call of duty? We don’t issue ‘Thank You cards’ every week. After all, it’s often business as usual or part of our everyday duties...but occasionally...there are times when an employee deserves a ‘Thank You’ from us.

Small gifts or presents are also important, in my opinion. Especially around Christmas time. To make an announcement...or a ‘Thank You’ card, a phone call or email.

I do however have one extra demandwhen it comes to cards like these. Not a single Christmas card, ‘With Compliment’ cards or any other form of card leaves our office with just our name printed on it....We make sure that every card contains a personal note. Otherwise we’re doing the recipient a great disservice! Here too, it’s important to show yourself, to give your personal response to something. 

Gratitude also takes pride of place in MyDifraxLife. The ‘Let the world smile’ theme contains the tab ‘I would like to send a compliment to....’ This system has proved extremely popular. Many people are using it to thank their colleagues for information, work, or to share a joke or a snippet of information. They enjoy using it and think it’s worthwhile. It’s also a wonderful way to let others know which people helped out, and that their efforts are worthy of a compliment!

In short, we have a lot to be grateful for. Handing out criticism is the easiest thing in the world. Always having something to complain about is even easier. If I had known that earlier, I would of course have done things differently...

But in the meantime we’re experiencing something very special together. We’re learning something new every day. There’s a good atmosphere at work with fun colleagues, everyone works hard and there’s a lot of camaraderie and fun. We’re all making money that pays our wages and allows us to develop beautiful, fantastic products. That, in turn, makes a lot of parents and their children happy.

With all this in mind, the importance of giving compliments and being grateful for everything we experience together becomes even clearer! I’m grateful for that!